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The Fertile Valleys
The Fertile Valleys (French: Les vallées fertiles) is the fourth episode of Once upon a time... Man. The episode tells, in summary, of the Neolithic Revolution and its consequences in places such as Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, and Israel. The previous episode is Cro-Magnon Man, and the next episode is The First Empires. Plot Around the year 7000 BC, the Ice Age ends, and since mammoths are extinct, Pierre and Jumbo turn elsewhere for food sources. Jumbo eats some fruit and spits some seeds onto the ground. There, some plants grow, which gives Pierrette the idea to grow some plants herself. Soon, Maestro, Pierre, Pierrot, and Jumbo learn how to plant crops themselves, becoming farmers. Soon enough, in 4000 BC, it's the Neolithic Period, and a small village emerges. To protect his crops against bandits, Pierre must build a fence around the village. Later, in 2700 BC, with France still in its prehistory, Maestro, Pierrot and Young Jumbo set up some menhirs in Carnac. As early as 5000 BC, though, the first cities (Jarmo, Iraq; Jericho, Israel; and Catal-Huyuk, Turkey) have been built. By 3500 BC, the Bronze Age has begun, and Maestro visits Mohenjo-Daro, where he sees magnificent stone walls, multi-story houses, women covered in jewelry, paved roads, and carts on wheels. When Maestro returns to Mesopotamia and tells of his findings, the Pest and the Dwarf don't believe him, but Pierrot and Young Jumbo do. As Maestro and the two boys set off for other places, they end up caught in the Great Flood. In time, those who survive are trying to mitigate the river's floods without much success, while Maestro writes about the Great Flood using pictographs. He also proposes that the people work together, even though they're not used to it. He proposes that they dig canals and dikes to control the river. With Maestro at the lead and Pest barking orders, the people finally work together. Once the river is controlled, nearly everyone congratulates Maestro, and almost no one thanks Pest, who gets his revenge by storming a ziggurat. Jumbo, now grown-up, rises up against Pest and pushes him off the ziggurat to his death. Around the year 2700 BC, we are in ancient Egypt. There, Pierre and Jumbo are pyramid builders, Pest is the boss, Dwarf is the overseer, and Maestro is a priest accompanying Pharaoh Khufu. We are also given a glimpse of life in Egypt during the time of Ramses II (around the year 1300 BC). After Ramses, Egypt is in for perils until, in 30 BC, Cleopatra kills herself with an asp, rather than surrender to Augustus, ending a thirty-century-long history. Back in 1250 BC, a Hebrew named Moses tries to persuade Ramses to let the Israelites go. When the pharaoh refuses, a series of plagues strike Egypt, which forces Ramses to give in Moses' demand. After the Israelites cross the Red Sea, they settle in the Sinai, where Moses receives the Ten Commandments. We are also shown, in summary, a number of Biblical events, such as the Battle of Jericho (around 1200 BC), Samson and Delilah (around 1050 BC), David and Goliath (around 1030 BC), and the Judgment of Solomon (around 950 BC). The narrator concludes that Judaism, as started by Moses, was the starting point of monotheism, and that it would beget both Christianity and Islam. Historical Inaccuracies *The pyramids should be gleaming white with limestone, rather than sand-colored as shown in the series. *Similarly, the statue of Ramses II should be brightly-colored, yet it is also sand-colored in the series. *30 BC is incorrectly referred to as AD 30. Appearances Historical Figures *Khufu *Ramses II *Cleopatra *Moses *Joshua *Samson *Delilah *David *Goliath *Solomon Years and Events *7000 BC **Neolithic Revolution *5000 BC *4000 BC *3500 BC **The Great Flood *2700 BC *1300 BC *1250 BC **The Exodus *1200 BC *1050 BC *1030 BC *950 BC *30 BC Locations *Earth **Europe ***France ****Britanny *****Carnac **Asia ***Iraq ****Jarmo ***Israel ****Jericho ****Gaza ****Jerusalem ***Turkey ****Catal-Huyuk ***India ****Mohenjo-Daro **Africa ***Egypt Foreign Titles *'Original French:' Les vallées fertiles *'German:' Macht euch die Erde untertan *'Italian:' Le valli fertili *'Polish:' Żyzne doliny *'Spanish:' Los valles fértiles Gallery Category:Man Category:Neolithic Category:Mesopotamia Category:Ancient Egypt Category:Episodes Category:Bronze Age Category:Biblical Events Category:Antiquity